ACS Vesuvius Evo Leva

danielpugh

Obviously a problem to sort out. This is the water report for our area - https://www.southwestwater.co.uk/siteassets/water-quality/2020-wq-reports/zcw4-wq-report.pdf it seemed particularly soft when i last checked. Quite surprised at the buildup in just over 3 months.

on top of that i also have a plumbed in bestmax premium filter which is supposed to neutralise limescale. Seems like osmosis is the way forward. If only there was an osmio countertop with plumbed output!

LMSC

danielpugh That’s strange. The total hardness looks ok. Get a drop kit, measure on 20 ml each for GH and KH, standardise for 5 ml.

Osmio zero has another model (under the counter, I think). Please give them a call.

Paolo_Cortese

https://www.dropbox.com/s/06wuoos0qgz6s1v/IMG_8123.jpg?dl=0

Here the sequence to remove the 90* fitting. First disconnect the pipe from the fitting 1. Second remove the 2 fitting and reducing in one step, it’s not necessary to remove individually each fitting than you are able to remove the 90 degree fitting from the boiler. Clean and use a sealant to assemble everything together. I hope that it’s clear.
Paolo

danielpugh

Thanks @Paolo_Cortese that does make sense. will do as soon as i can prepare myself for physical lift ;-)

LMSC

danielpugh How often do you steam - it’s a service boiler, right ?

danielpugh

is there a cheaper place to source replacement valve than here https://www.voltagerestaurantsupply.com/products/la-marzocco-vacuum-breaker-b2029-anti-vacuum-anti-depression-valve (obviously assuming that one fits the evo)?

@LMSC - thanks = “drop kit”? i do have a kit i bought some time ago for aquariums

[edit] i think i have this one kicking about

[more editing] i did contact osmio - their kit was too big, almost as difficult - needed a waste pipe (where there was none) going to get complicated, but probably worth it!

LMSC

danielpugh Please try https://www.espressoparts.com/

LMSC

danielpugh is there a cheaper place to source replacement valve than here

This one

Edit - yes, that’s the kit

LMSC

danielpugh Please consider descaling the boiler as well.

DavecUK

danielpugh is there a cheaper place to source replacement valve than here https://www.voltagerestaurantsupply.com/products/la-marzocco-vacuum-breaker-b2029-anti-vacuum-anti-depression-valve (obviously assuming that one fits the evo)?

Yes, ACS….I thought that was the breaker being fitted as standard to Evo machines, but I think @Paolo_Cortese ran out of parts and had to use a standard breaker, on a batch of Evo models (at least that’s what I was told today when I queried it).

danielpugh

@LMSC - cool thanks that’s a better price. Bit sad that it came with the cheapo version, but never mind one for the future.

Just done a test and finding a KH of 3 drops (53.7), and GH of 5 drops (89.5).

DavecUK

danielpugh @LMSC - cool thanks that’s a better price. Bit sad that it came with the cheapo version, but never mind one for the future.

Well theres advantages and disadvantages:

Standard version repairable with o ring after 3 or 4 years for a few pence
Entire vacuum breaker can be had for less than 10
Works just as effectively, until it needs maintenance
needs maintaining more often
Fancy version not repairable and much more expensive to replace
Works very well with no dribble
lasts longer before replacement (don’t believe it can be maintained
ACS have been using them for almost 5 years on the Vesuvius (La Marzocco only started using them a year ago)

When I questioned Paolo he said they had run out of stock but wanted to get machines out….but he did say, unless I misunderstood, that he would like to get the expensive ones out to owners when they come back into stock. Now whether that means current owners who didn’t get one, or future owners, remains the mystery….now you know what I know and……

Giphy - mr narrins GIF

Sgt Shulttz from the comedy show Hogans Heros…used to watch it as a kid….

LMSC

danielpugh Is that on 20 ml each ?

SebH

DavecUK

Hmmm, just found out that I did not receive the superior vacuum breaker either.

Let’s hope that they will keep the promise and send them out

DavecUK

Just in case…

Now, if you watched it…I’ll bet you want to know what happened…

danielpugh

@LMSC not sure - up to the line on the test tubes that came with the kit…

LMSC

danielpugh That would be 5 ml, I think. Please check the tube. If correct, the hardness (GH) is a little on the higher side to my liking. The Alkalinity is fine, though.

@Rob1 is the guy who manages the below excel, from where I pulled this image based on your parameters - assuming they are on 5 ml. It doesn’t show big scaling risks. I hope he will chip in.

Furthermore, if it is a steam boiler, it also depends how many times you have steamed a week, if you drew a cup of water to get the deposited minerals out, if you ever flushed / recycled, etc.

I also recommend that you also descale the boilers and not use the machine until you sort the water first.

Tbh, I do not know BWT is fit for purpose.

danielpugh

So I steam with nearly all drinks, say 6 cups a day. Haven’t drawn any water apart from random /occasionally. Not done a lot else really apart from a descale, as it only arrived around mid September

LMSC

Sorry mate!

With that kind of steaming, with the water having some scaling potential, a week is enough for scale to form, IMO.

Time for Citric Acid on boilers and filtered water, I am afraid. Good luck!

Rob1

LMSC

Based on the figures scaling will occur immediately based on the info there. As scale forms alkalinity and hardness will be reduced in equal measure until scale no longer forms. That means alkalinity will drop to 35.6mg/l and hardness will drop to 71.4mg/l. So that’s approx 18.1mg/l deposited as scale per litre.

It gets a bit more complicated as the deposits are not entirely insoluble at room temp, so when the water cools down it will dissolve a tiny amount of scale but not worth mentioning.

Using a 5ml sample as per the kit instructions is not going to provide an accurate enough measure for this use but you can increase the resolution (accuracy) by increasing the water sample size easily.

danielpugh

@LMSC - bear in mind that test is on the mains water. Haven’t tested the bestmax yet (prob should have mentioned). The duetto managed 2.5 years and still going strong, so not panic time yet ;-)? Will do some more tests tomorrow, work permitting. I think time to get osmosis somehow/where though as no doubt bestmax not doing enough..

LMSC

Rob1 I am sure he will test, as advised earlier, using 20 ml of water and standardise the result to 5 ml.

I don’t know how good or otherwise the best max is. If that’s used, looks like it’s not enough. Hopefully, Daniel will test both the water in the boiler and best max. We know the challenge is continuously figuring out the consistency of scaling and alkalinity of water from best max.

I’m sure he will fix the issue and the machine will be up and running. I will be careful, if I were him. next time around; would use distilled or RO with bicarb - even if I have to use the counter top Osmio. May be, addressing additional plumbing requirements for osmio is a good way forward.

Rob1 That means alkalinity will drop to 35.6mg/l and hardness will drop to 71.4mg/l.

Could you explain how do you derive these numbers from his readings please ? Thx 😊

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